Word: 109s
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Here is one of them, Richard Hillary, remembering his first kill: "We ran into them at 18,000 ft., 20 yellow-nosed Messerschmitt 109s, about 500 ft. above us . . . Brian Carbury, who was leading the section . . . let go a burst of fire at the leading plane. ((I)) saw the pilot put his machine into a half roll and knew that he was mine. Automatically, I kicked the rudder to the left to get him at right angles, turned the gun-button to FIRE and let go in a 4- sec. burst . . . He seemed to hang motionless; then...
...been hearing heavy German concentrations land on the nearest village . . . since 4 a.m. . . . [You will get] an idea of the staff sergeant's enthusiasm when I say that he stopped reading his textbook only when our own batteries opened up on some Me-109s that were gyrating around overhead...
...that the Schweinfurt mission in which we lost 60 of our bombers may prove to have been one of the decisive air actions of the war." The Schweinfurt plants produced over 50% of Germany's ball bearings. The Regensburg raid caused a loss in production of 500 ME-109s. Cost of that raid to the Eighth Bomber Command...
...Allies worked doggedly to overcome the difficulties of supplying forward bases. Reinforcements arrived. Long-range, multipurpose P-38 Lightnings flew from England with extra fuel tanks strapped to their bellies, fought back Messerschmitt 109s and Focke-Wulf 190s, which thus far had reigned supreme. Tropicalized Spitfires arrived, Marauders, Mitchells, Bostons, Airacobras, Hurri-bombers, Hurricanes carrying tank-busting cannon. In late January the British Eighth Army drew up in the south with its powerful Allied Western Desert air forces...
They found what they were looking for. Four of them were jumped up by 25 of the Germans' new Focke-Wulf 190s and Messerschmitt 109s. They fought them on their own. And one page of what will have to be a book of proof, was complete. Gunners in the Fortresses knocked down three German planes, damaged at least nine more. But U.S. airmen and especially Bomber Commander Ira Eaker were interested in something more than that the Fortresses had beaten off an attack against overwhelming odds. They were most interested in the fact that again all the Fortresses...